Breaking News: Shawn Marion Commits

Shawn Marion is going to sign with the Cavs. The Pacers seemed to be in the running for his services because they could offer more money than the Cavs, but they have lost out. Marion wants to play for a contender.

Sources told ESPN.com that Marion informed the Cavaliers this weekend that he intends to sign with them this month despite the fact that Cleveland can only offer him a minimum deal.

Marion is known for his goofy shooting stroke and for his ability to defend a variety of positions. He was a critical piece on the Mavericks team that won the 2011 finals and caused LeBron James to retool his game the following season.

He averaged 10.4 points a game and 6.5 rebounds a game last season. Marion will be a welcome addition to the Cavaliers offense too; he doesn’t need the ball to make an impact and always seems to get his own points without being the focal point of the offense. He has just what the Cavs need: defense and the ability to move without the ball effectively.

31 Responses to “Breaking News: Shawn Marion Commits”

Inasmuch as I like the rather romantic idea of Lebron leading a team of young pups to the mountain top, I’m at piece with the win now mentality. And, Marion is a good addition – since he’s signing for a minimum deal. Marion played way too many minutes last year, but, even at age 36, in a smaller role he can be very effective. And he can show/teach our younger player how to play defense.

Anyone have any info on likely lineups? My first guess is SM playing limited minutes, but maybe starting at the 2 spot. I like the idea of “double D” second unit (led by Dion and Delly) hitting the floor with high energy.

Also, the team still has three guys picked up purely for salary in a trade. I don’t think there is room on the roster to keep them. Any clue on what is up with them? There might be a trade in the works.

Love makes $15.7 million, and Wiggins ($5.5M) and Bennett ($5.56M) are at almost $11.2M. My understanding is that we needed to be within $5M of Love’s contract to make it work financially. Must we send roster filler for purely money purposes? Not that I mind, and that’s what they were acquired for, but I’d love to see them used for another piece of the pie (i.e, Rim protector).

What John says is accurate, our outgoing salary number has to be within $5 million of Love’s salary number, and Anthony Bennett + Andrew Wiggins are about 4.5 million below that figure. So unless the Wolves want another non-guaranteed contract as sweetener, we’re all good on that front.

What about starting TT and keeping Andy, Dion, Delly, and Marion on the bench to make a super 2nd team. This would make it easier to limit Andy’s minutes, allow his energy to make more if an impact, and possibly help Dion accept his bench role more willingly since he clearly loved playing with Delly and Andy last year.
In this scenerio I’m imaging Miller or Jones or Allen starting at the 2.

Yep, this is a win-now team. Griffin is having a pretty good year 1 as a GM–haha! I, too, liked the idea of LeBron developing the young players into a kind of dynasty, but, you know, that may happen in addition to taking it all this year.

The craziest thing is the ESPN chat boards are starting to show some NBA fan resentment towards the super team that LeBron is building. “The Cleveland Heat”, etc. Truthfully, I think this was LBJ’s master plan after the loss in the Finals and the Cavs got the #1 pick. The “Homecoming” is a nice narrative, and fits with LeBron’s sentimental side, but this was clearly the best opportunity to win while in his prime. But I’m cool with it. In fact, I’m more than cool with it every time I remember where we were 4 months ago.

Really pumped about this signing. I’m usually jealous of other teams for making this kind of move. Great to see the Cavs putting together a deep, talented roster with a nice balance of youth and experience that’s built to win now and in the future.

There is a good chance that a lot of things will go right for a long time compared with Miami. Comparing owners, the Heat were cheap, and Gilbert says: “Write the check”. I also think Griffin is smarter than Riley. And the coaching staff looks much better (OK, I am projecting here, but it certainly could be).

Also, the Cavs have some draft picks coming up, and now LeBron is in full time schmooze mode on bringing in vets. He could not do as much with the Heat, because he was not sure he was staying, and he did not want to lie to other players (like Riley did this year!). Now everyone knows LeBron is staying, so there is no risk of being stranded.

I usually end up just watch at home on questionable quality illegal streams. Might have an easier time with things considering the expected success and bandwagonry this season. That would be fun to figure out though, if nothing else I’m sure we could use social networking and bombard a given sports bar with cleveland fans.

Sounds good to me. I’d also be willing to have a few folks over to watch at mine (I will probably end up getting LP Broadband because I’m a sucker, though you can make up the cost differential in beer very quickly if the other option is a bar). Seems like a bar will be good for the opener though, I’m sure they’ll be playing it and it would certainly be fun to take one over. Drop me a line: djk447 at hotmail to coordinate.

Marion is a great complimentary pick-up. Didn’t think there was much doubt given the only real competition for his services was Indy and they have no real shot at a title this year. Don’t know if there’s another viable piece out there at the moment (rumors of them exploring a trade for Mozgov notwithstanding). I also don’t think Ray Ray is going to necessarily join a team until he gets a better look at the playoff landscape. I’d put a little money on him sitting out with his family until after the ASB and then joining either the Cavs, Bulls, Spurs or OKC depending on demand.

I ” LOVE ” ” MATRIX ” re-runs –agree with a lot of what all you bloggers have said—-would like to go out and get that ” BIG ” if we can —–believe the veterans will help the youngsters ( powell/ harris ) mature more rapidly —like the mixture of veterans with the youth —-think our coaching staff ( not much being mentioned ) is going to surprise a lot of people this year —-think they have put together a very good staff—–

Harlem Cavalier, a “CAVS: the blog” meet-up is a great notion. I’m on the wrong coast to hang with you guys in NY but it would be great to start this historic season with some national and maybe international meet-ups for the opening game against the Knicks.

Any Bay Area folks interested? I live in Berkeley (though, I’m really just a kid from Akron).

I think you guys are on to something (harlem ) let’s make it a worldwide ” GET TOGETRHER —ALL FOR ONE – ONE FOR ALL ” to kick off this ( hopefully ) historic season —-let’s start planning on how to have the ” CAVS VOICES HEARD WORLDWIDE “

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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